OTTAWA – The Ottawa Senators hit the ice on Sunday with a 42-player roster including the team’s seven new free agent signings and 18 players that were obtained in trades. The Sens 2020-21 training camp, presented by Sport Chek, and being held exclusively at Canadian Tire Centre features a roster of 23 forwards,13 defencemen and six goalies.
The players will by participating in one of two daily sessions at the CTC (with the exception of off days) for the duration of training camp.
On this season’s Sens training camp roster there are 10 former first-round draft picks and 16 players who were Ottawa selections in NHL drafts. Seven new faces to training camp signed with the Senators as free agents and 18 players on the roster were obtained in trades. and one goaltender (who is also among those drafted by the Senators) is at camp on a professional tryout agreement.
Exactly half of the training camp squad appeared in at least one game with the Senators during the 2019-20 season while another eight players dressed with other NHL clubs.
Meanwhile, the Sens also announced that their alternate captains for the upcoming season will be Thomas Chabot, Erik Gudbranson and Brady Tkachuk.
“You have two young guys that are going to be leaders in this league for a long time,” Sens head coach D.J. Smith said of Chabot and Tkachuk. “Last year, they had ‘A’s’ for a little bit of the time and I think it’s time to transition and start to help them be the leaders of this team going forward.
“I think a guy like Gudbranson, who’s been around the league, can help them. It’s important to transition them into what we think is going to be the leadership with our group going forward,” said Smith.
Gudbranson is also an Ottawa native who the Sens acquired from Anaheim during the offseason. He was drafted by the Florida Panthers, where he spent five seasons and also played three seasons with the Canucks and two season with the Penguins.
“[I’m] very proud,” he said. “This is an incredible experience coming here and putting a Sens logo on. It’s been very very special every single day and something I’m definitely not taking for granted. It’s one thing to come back and play for your hometown team and I had this conversation with my wife last night about how cool it was.”
Both Chabot and Tkachuk were alternates towards the end of last season for the Senators while Gudbranson has been a leader for the majority of his career despite still being only 28. Brady is the son of former NHLer Keith Tkachuk who played for the Jets, Coyotes, Thrashers and Blues, while Brady’s brother Matthew, where’s the A in Calgary.
Here is the complete roster rundown.
2020-21 Senators training camp roster
Six (6) goaltenders, 2019-20 team(s): François Brassard (Maine – ECHL), Joey Daccord (Brampton – ECHL, Belleville – AHL), Filip Gustavsson (Belleville – AHL), Marcus Hogberg (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Kevin Mandolese (Cape Breton – QMJHL), Matt Murray (Pittsburgh – NHL).
Thirteen (13) defencemen, 2019-20 team(s): Olle Alsing (Djurgårdens – SHL), Jonathan Aspirot (Belleville – AHL), Erik Brännström (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Josh Brown (Florida – NHL), Thomas Chabot (Ottawa – NHL), Erik Gudbranson (Pittsburgh – NHL, Anaheim – NHL), Christian Jaros (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Max Lajoie (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Mike Reilly (Montreal – NHL, Ottawa – NHL), Lassi Thomson (Ilves – SM-Liiga), Christian Wolanin (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Nikita Zaitsev (Ottawa – NHL), Artem Zub (SKA St Petersburg – KHL).
Twenty-three (23) forwards, 2019-20 team(s): Vitaly Abramov (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Artem Anisimov (Ottawa – NHL), Rudolfs Balcers (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Drake Batherson (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Jean-Christophe Beaudin (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Connor Brown (Ottawa – NHL), Logan Brown (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Filip Chlapik (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Evgenii Dadonov (Florida – NHL), Jonathan Davidsson (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Alex Formenton (Belleville – AHL), Alex Galchenyuk (Pittsburgh – NHL, Minnesota – NHL), Micheal Haley (N.Y. Rangers – NHL), Parker Kelly (Belleville – AHL), Josh Norris (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Nick Paul (Belleville – AHL, Ottawa – NHL), Matthew Peca (Laval – AHL, Montreal – NHL, Ottawa – NHL), Logan Shaw (Manitoba – AHL, Winnipeg – NHL), Egor Sokolov (Cape Breton – QMJHL), Chris Tierney (Ottawa – NHL), Brady Tkachuk (Ottawa – NHL), Austin Watson (Nashville – NHL), Colin White (Ottawa – NHL).
